In todays P&J that work for replacing the all weather park worth around £700,000 is going out to tender now. Don't know if this includes the overall plan as originally set out or not but something is happening. Wonder if an upgrade of power supply is part of the plan if extra facilities are being included.

ELLON BRANCH wrote:In todays P&J that work for replacing the all weather park worth around £700,000 is going out to tender now. Don't know if this includes the overall plan as originally set out or not but something is happening. Wonder if an upgrade of power supply is part of the plan if extra facilities are being included.

I'll believe it when I see it. It would make sense to upgrade the power supply at the same time so for that reason it probably won't happen.

The project as a whole is dead as he council have pulled out. They are not willing to stump up their share of the cash needed for the project anymore. Only the all weather pitches upgrade to sort out the drainage problems will be carried out.

The council and Peterhead town planners are an absolute disgrace. No money is invested in creating anything worthwhile in and around the Peterhead area is it? Here was a project that would have created great facilities for the people of Peterhead and for the next generation but no no it just goes to show that yet again Peterhead is closed for business.

You just have to look at the town centre too, it's dead and has been for years. Who actually goes there or wants to go there any more? Look at the old mill site where Aldi are supposed to be going. It's an eyesore and has been for ages and when is anything ever going to happen there.

It's no wonder that PFC receives the little support it does compared to what it should for the size of this town. Peterhead is dying on its arse, has nothing going for it, has no community spirit and when the local council show they aren't willing to spend money on Peterhead then people have no interest in the town.

The poor members of the local bowling club in Victoria St. are still living out of a container for goodness sake because the council won't pay to build a new clubhouse for them when the last one burned down. How long ago was that now!

The athletics club was resurrected a little over a year ago and people have been working hard to attract the youngsters to the club and provide events for them to take part in. The track is in dire need of resurfacing (it's close to being 30yrs old) and the floodlights upgraded but yes you guessed it the council won't fork out the cash to make the necessary improvements. If fact they have the audacity to want to charge the club for the hire of the track and field!

If you take the likes of a town like Inverurie for example, it has a lot more going for it. It has a better town centre that can attract visitors with no empty and boarded up shops and not heaps of charity shops either. Better facilities all round for evryone too. Christ even the Broch has more going for it than Peterhead!!!

The decision makers in this town really need to get their fingers oot their backsides for a change instead of sitting in that crappy Buchan House building and start making a difference. Hope they are constantly dive bombed by scurries and shat on and canna open their office windows due to the fishy waft coming from the monstrosity of a fish factory they allowed to be built in such close proximity to centre of town.

The new fish factory was pushed through by political pressure and not by the planners. They were leaned on by the Councillors and other politicians to approve plans that should never have been (of course we can't criticise the Scottish Govt though). Buchan House was a money saving exercise as the costs of building will be recouped from the sale of the other 8 or so council offices that were closed. Not to mention the council now doesn't have to pay to maintain the 100 year old buildings it previously was. Also ALDI had its planning approved at the start of the year for the mill site and work begins this year to build a supermarket and two additional retail units. (ALDI had put the plan on hold until Ellon and Inverurie were open as a bit of a tester) Of course all of this info is on the council website if you want to look for it.

The new sports facilities were nothing but pie in the sky. For the money they were looking to spend they were getting very little for it. They built most of the Aberdeen Sports village for the same cost and all we would be getting was essentially a few pitches and a small gym.

I am all for being critical of the council. Trust me nothing frustrates me more than the state of our town, but i think here you are wide of the mark. If I remember correctly the Club wasn't putting in a large share of the finance (£1m from £17m) to get essentially a new stadium, why should the council fork out for that? Far better they tie it in with the new Academy that work starts on shortly and create the kind of facilities they have in Ellon for a fraction of the cost. Remember also that they are putting £750,000 to upgrade Catto park at the moment so don't move to be critical when there is money forthcoming. Also remember that the club gets Balmoor stadium for £3,600 a year, that is a pretty good deal from the council.

The new fish factory was pushed through by political pressure and not by the planners. They were leaned on by the Councillors and other politicians to approve plans that should never have been (of course we can't criticise the Scottish Govt though). Buchan House was a money saving exercise as the costs of building will be recouped from the sale of the other 8 or so council offices that were closed. Not to mention the council now doesn't have to pay to maintain the 100 year old buildings it previously was. Also ALDI had its planning approved at the start of the year for the mill site and work begins this year to build a supermarket and two additional retail units. (ALDI had put the plan on hold until Ellon and Inverurie were open as a bit of a tester) Of course all of this info is on the council website if you want to look for it.

The new sports facilities were nothing but pie in the sky. For the money they were looking to spend they were getting very little for it. They built most of the Aberdeen Sports village for the same cost and all we would be getting was essentially a few pitches and a small gym.

I am all for being critical of the council. Trust me nothing frustrates me more than the state of our town, but i think here you are wide of the mark. If I remember correctly the Club wasn't putting in a large share of the finance (£1m from £17m) to get essentially a new stadium, why should the council fork out for that? Far better they tie it in with the new Academy that work starts on shortly and create the kind of facilities they have in Ellon for a fraction of the cost. Remember also that they are putting £750,000 to upgrade Catto park at the moment so don't move to be critical when there is money forthcoming. Also remember that the club gets Balmoor stadium for £3,600 a year, that is a pretty good deal from the council.

In it they make reference to the point that this first tranche of work will move the pitches so that work can go ahead on the larger project.

I don't disgree with most of this post but there is no doubt that Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Government are allowing Peterhead to slowly die with the lack of infrastructure spending. We cannot continue to build houses, houses and more houses in place of the business infrastructure that used to exist in the centre of the town without exasperating the already run down nature of the town. Inverurie has thrived by attracting businesses to build in the town centre, not replacing every work place with a new block of low cost housing.

In terms of cost, ASV cost £28m and the aquatics centre £22m and this does not include the property that ACC signed over to Aberdeen Uni, so the cost is nothing like the price of the ASV complex. Peterhead Academy will not even be started before 2019 based on the current Aberdeenshire Council capital plans and there is not even any indication of where the school would be built.

I wasn't including the aquatics centre in the comparison as it doesn't really compare to the plans for Peterhead. I was just pointing out that it is a lot of capital to invest and that the football club would be getting a pretty sweet deal with the council footing most of the bill.

And I quite agree with your first point. And not just criticising the SNP government, it has been years of neglect by various governments & councillors. We have seen a hug influx in housing but no real improvements to any of the infrastructure, schools or facilities.

I just think at the moment there are plans going ahead that are slowly improving things so I like to try and be optimistic at the moment. Things like the new retail park at B&Q get started soon, the mill site and the new Academy and it looks like the Catto Park plans are at least beginning. Even groups like Choose Peterhead seem to be trying to get things moving.

The school should be started before 2019, it is just unlikely to be opened by then (I am led to believe there will be an announcement next month about the site they have selected). I believe it isn't in the capital plans as the money is possibly coming form changes due to the regeneration deal which is why it is being brought forward. It looks like they are going to stagger it back a touch so it isn't opening the same summer as Inverurie as that is too big a job for the support services to open two academies in the same summer - so possibly 2020 or 2021. Although originally they hadn't even planned to look at it before Inverurie opened, which maybe tells you more than you need to know about it.

As you may have guessed I sometimes have to cause to work with the local government in various places so I do get an insight into things that go on. The biggest problem appears to be that the people in Council HQ (Woodhill House) seem to forget that anything north of Aberdeen exists. I was speaking to one person from there who didn't even realise that Peterhead Academy is the largest in Aberdeenshire!

Of course if none of this happens then I will be getting my pitchfork out and re joining the mob!!!!

muddles wrote:Was just trying to provoke some debate on the topic which I seem to have done. I just put it out there what a good majority of the folk in Peterhead actually think.

As a man "in the know" NewBlue you have provided information on developments that will be happening in the near and long term future.

Let's hope that these projects do indeed come off so we can at last see some improvements to our town.

Unfortunately my 'in the know' isn't as in the know as I would like it to be. It would be great to be a fly on the wall at these planning meetings to find out exactly what the thought processes are sometimes.

As you say I hope these projects all come together and that it is the start of better things.

Was up past for my season ticket today & notice that the all weather pitches have been lifted & work going on there, presume this is for the drainage & laying new surface spoken of earlier. Being from far flung Ellon don't know if this job complete for just now or if any other plans have surfaced since it was last spoken about.